What if it all turned around?

[LordAnubis]

A question I thought interesting discussing with cigar friends. 
Imagine Cuba has everything. Power. Fertiliser. Fuel. People. Draw tester 🤣Everything. 
Do you think CCs will improve?

I don’t. Friend I asked didn’t think so. I think fundamentally what makes CCs good is the starvation and unpredictability the leaves have endured. I think it has made them incredible. And while I’ve smoked NCs from various countries I can be 100000% sure that to me nothing beats Cuban leaf. Even in today's age of whatever is going on there in the last 5 years. 
What do you think?  

[helix]

NCs are licking at CCs heels as far as an enjoyable smoke. Cuban twang is unique not duplicated.

[El Presidente]

I think aspects of the process would improve but the undelying malaise would continue. Management and culture challenges would remain. 

In terms of crops, fuel and fertilizer would certainly make life easier! The oxen for one would be in full support 

And yes...Cuban tobacco is the best in the world. Soil/micro-climate/stress.

 

[LordAnubis]

2 hours ago, El Presidente said:

The oxen for one would be in full support

How do you know it’s not the wafting ox farts that are adding complexity to the Cuban leaf? 😁

[loose_axle]

I don't know if they'd improve but it'd be nice to have plenty of supply again

[Chas.Alpha]

19 hours ago, LordAnubis said:

How do you know it’s not the wafting ox farts that are adding complexity to the Cuban leaf? 😁

I recently smoked a 2017 RASS that seemed to miss the R. 🤔

[Lamboinee]

On 10/25/2024 at 1:30 PM, LordAnubis said:

How do you know it’s not the wafting ox farts that are adding complexity to the Cuban leaf

Funny you mention this. I've been obsessing over some academic tobacco studies lately and, according to some scholarly research, the fungus, bacteria, and other microorganisms on tobacco have a significant impact on flavor. These colonies seem to be the result of the environment where the tobacco is grown and fermented, as opposed to being inherent aspects of a tobacco leaf varital/species. These micro organisms are apparently unique to growing regions and can even be used to identify a leaf's growing region. One study in China documented how specific growing regions in the country could be identified by analyzing samples of microorganism colonies from several crops of the same type of tobacco grown in different regions during the same year. Another study was able to distinguish Cuban tobacco from the Dominican Republic, Honduras, and Nicaraguan tobacco using these same principles. If all this is true, then native livestock farts could play a part in defining a regions terroir!